Dahlia variabilis. 
xe2x80x98HGD-161-7xe2x80x99.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of Dahlia variabilis known by the varietal denomination xe2x80x98HGD-161-7xe2x80x99. The female parent of xe2x80x98HGD-161-7xe2x80x99 is an unpatented selection from a proprietary breeding collection known as xe2x80x98DA-93xe2x80x99. The male parent is also an unpatented selection from the proprietary breeding collection known as xe2x80x98DA-93xe2x80x99.
The new cultivar xe2x80x98HGD-161-7xe2x80x99 is a product of a planned breeding program and was selected from the progeny of the stated cross made on September, 1998 by the Inventor at HEM GENETICS, Hemmerbuurt 98, 1607 LC Hem, the Netherlands, xe2x80x98HGD-161-7xe2x80x99 was first asexually progated on May 1, 1999 by the Inventor at HEM GENETICS, Hemmerbuurt 98, 1607 LC Hem, the Netherlands.
The new variety is a Dahlia plant useful for growing outdoors and under glass which produces attractive contrasting red and yellow-orange flowers. Among the traits possessed by the new variety which in combination distinguish it from other varieties known to the inventor are its attractive flowers with contrasting flower colors, vigorous growth, compact plants and fast response/early flowering.
Asexual reproduction by cuttings of the new variety in the Netherlands has demonstrated that the combination of chaacteristics as described herein for xe2x80x98HGD-161-7xe2x80x99 are firmly fixed and are retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction.
xe2x80x98HGD-161-7xe2x80x99 is particularly characterized by the following:
1. Compact growing plants;
2. Fast flower responses;
3. Vigorous growth;
4. Abundnace of flowers;
5. Shape of the flowers; and
6. Contrasting red/yellow-orange flower color.
Perhaps the closest comparision cultivar is xe2x80x98Estivoxe2x80x99 (unpatented). xe2x80x98HGD-161-7xe2x80x99 is more compact and has a different flower color than xe2x80x98Estivoxe2x80x99. In comparision to the parental cultivar xe2x80x98DA-93xe2x80x99, the flower color of xe2x80x98HGD-161-7xe2x80x99 is red, RHS 46A and yellow, and the flower color of xe2x80x98DA-93xe2x80x99 is deep red, RHS 53A and yellow. xe2x80x98HGD-161-7xe2x80x99 has not been tested under all available environmental conditions and the phenotype may vary with variations in environmental conditions such as temperature, light intensity, day length and humidity, without a change in genotype of the plant.